Introduction to Bonding - The basics

This is English Bond. Notice the headers in one course, stretchers in the next. The queen closer keeps the bond.

Solid walls - English Bond

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Wall 1 brick thick

On the right there are two examples of English bond. The lower one shows very dense engineering bricks - often found in factories and bridges etc.

English Bond examples

Make sure you understand the need for the queen closers (left).

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English Bond is slow to lay. Work is quicker if the number of headers is reduced. This is why Garden wall bonds are so popular. On the right you should be able to see that there are three courses of stretchers to every one of headers….

English Bond - Garden Wall Bond

The number of bricks is virtually the same -it’s just quicker to lay stretchers and fewer bricks are rejected if they are too long or too short.

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In most two storey houses the walls are 1B thick (approx. 225mm) High buildings need thicker walls. English Bond can easily be adapted. The right-hand picture shows two courses of a wall which is two-brickstwo-bricks thick.

English Bond - Thick walls

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This is Flemish Bond. Notice the headers and stretchers alternate in each course. Again, the queen closers keeps the bond.

Solid walls - Flemish Bond

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Flemish Bond - examples

Here are three examples of Flemish bond. Good quality housing from the Georgian and Victorian periods is usually in Flemish bond.

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Flemish Garden Wall bond

Flemish Garden Wall bond is quite rare but it does exist. The example on the right shows two stretchers in each course followed by a single header. There are other variations.

End of sequence